In A Glass Palace
by Chainlinks
Summary: Sequel to Strange Path Leads Me. Dib is captured for a second time. AU, slash.
1. The Evils of Being Left Handed

Warnings: Slash, both ZADR and a pairing involving Dib and some other IZ guy who shall remain anonymous until I tell you. Also, slavery, major AU, and sequel-ness.  
  
Author's Note: Strange Path Leads Me didn't seem quite finished in my eyes (either that, or I was having too much fun with it to quit), so I decided to write this. It's the sequel, but it should take a couple chapters to finish it up. I've got it all written up in a notebook, but I'm still typing the whole thing up. As of right now, I'm finished up to Chapter Three, but I'm going to post the chapters at intervals.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Dib (and seeing as how I'm one of his countless fangirls, that's probably a good thing), Zim, Gaz, or anyone else. Okay? Okay. Sue me, and you'll receive a giant IOU and a rubber tree.  
  
Of A Rhinestone Slavery in a Glass Palace  
  
  
  
  
  
Dib tossed restlessly in his tiny bed. It wasn't even a bed, really. It was a dresser drawer that he had to pull his knees up to his chest to fit into. It was almost coffin-like. He had it shoved against a crumbling brick wall and painted black to blend with the shadows. He'd found a long black board to pull over it as he slept so that no rats would crawl in to nest in his hair during the day, as well as to block out that annoying bulb of light he used to call the sun, but now called "the stupid dangerous bright thing that prevents me from making supply runs and attacking Zim during the day".  
  
But I digress. Dib was tossing restlessly in his tiny bed - though how he managed to toss as restlessly as he did is beyond me. I suppose that after six years of practice of sleeping in a drawer, one adapts. Usually Dib slept soundly, but today, his thoughts were plagued by rusted, unhappy memories.  
  
* * *  
  
"Ha! You're afraid of me, aren't you? You don't want to face wrath of my water balloons!" Dib accused.  
  
"Who won our water war, little Dibby creature? I did! I, the great Zim, beat-ed you with your own watery technology. And I'd win aga-- What!?" Zim cut off his taunting, and stared at Zita as she passed by.  
  
"What's wrong? Finally succumbing to our race's feminine wiles?" Dib mocked.  
  
"What is she wearing!?" Zim demanded, not bothering to point out that Dib had practically just called himself a girl.  
  
"You've been on Earth two years and you still can't recognize a pair of jeans and a t-shirt?" Dib asked, sounding partly confused, but mostly wary. This had to be a joke. Or a trick. Most likely the latter.  
  
"Her… Feet!"  
  
"Oh. Those platform shoes? They may be out of style, but she's popular. She's allowed to revive old trends. Hasn't Jessica given you that lecture yet?"  
  
* * *  
  
As soon as Dib had uttered the words "platform shoes", the fate of the human race was sealed. Ironic how the sole hope for Earth ended up dooming it. If Dib had distracted Zim with more teasing, Zim would have forgotten about the shoes, Zita would have given up on reviving the trend, the Irken forces would have continued to deem Zim's invading too big of a failure to waste the armada on, and Earth would have remained Earth instead of Platformia.  
  
Zim acted smug during the two weeks between his discovery of the shoes and the arrival of the armada. He didn't come to school or leave the house, causing a fatal flaw in his plan: It gave Dib a heightened paranoia and caused him to start listening to his transmitter again. That gave Dib just enough time to yank Gaz out of the house and drag her to the nearest bomb shelter. It did not, however, give him enough time to drag Professor Membrane away from his work. He would have needed a couple millennia's notice in order to manage that.  
  
The armada turned the cities to ashes, leaving nothing behind except for shoe factories and a limited number of workers. Zim himself destroyed Dib's neighborhood -- as the conqueror of Earth, the Tallest were forced to let him participate in the Organic Sweep, but they were not, however, obliged to let him destroy more than a relatively small neighborhood.  
  
There, as he rampaged through the neighborhood, blasting Professor Membrane's laboratory and the scientists inside, Zim yelled the words that tainted Dib's soul forever. "And I would like to thank my Mommy and Daddy for birthing me, and Nana Robot for caring for me as her own progeny and -" Hold on. My mistake. Fast-forward a little. "And thank you to the stinkbeast Dib, who has the biggest head on the planet! Without you, I would have never discovered platform shoes!"  
  
Though less than a paragraph of dialogue, it was really quite a bit to have staining one's soul, especially when paired up with the images of Zim blowing up Dib's father's workstation. Dib had cried every night for weeks, and sometimes still did - tonight being one of those nights. Dib understood that this wasn't a stain that could be taken out with Chlorox Bleach or Tide - though he'd stuck himself in a washing machine on numerous occasions just to make sure.  
  
You're probably asking yourself what could be worse, aren't you? Probably saying "Oh, poor Dib! Go get your revenge on that mean alien invader!" Well I'm sure that Dib would take your advice except for one slight difficulty: Somewhere along the way, he had fallen in love with Zim. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't hate Zim; he was just too far gone. He tried to tell himself he did, but, unfortunately, Dib never was very good at lying, and lying to oneself is even more difficult than lying to anyone else, so his attempts as convincing his heart that it was wrong were complete failures. Zim kissing him two years ago most definitely had not helped matters at all… But that's another story entirely.  
  
Since I got off on such a long tangent about Dib's thoughts and memories, I feel the need to set the scene again. We find our hero curled in a fetal position in his little black drawer-bed shadowing him from the sunset. Not quite the most heroic position, but it served its purpose. Dib eventually sensed that the sun had fully set and crept from his bed.  
  
The irony of the situation struck him horribly as it did every morning for the six years he'd lived in the dank alleyway. He, the paranormal genius, crawling through the night and sleeping in a coffin like some common vampire! Grumbling at the injustice, Dib stumbled towards a shattered piece of mirror and ran a hand through his hair. Pointless, because his hair did what it wanted when it wanted. Dib splashed a bit of water on his face from a canteen of clean water hanging at his side - no one would trust any of the puddles on the ground. Dib was fairly certain the rain had been altered to avoid harming the Irkens. It had the texture and taste of paste, making it useless for washing your face.  
  
Without doing anything else - what else could he do? Change clothes? Not likely. Eat? Eat what? Gaz would kill him for touching her cereal and then he'd never get today's mission accomplished! - Dib called over his shoulder, "See you later, I don't know when I'll be back, so don't wait up."  
  
"Like I would." Gaz retorted indifferently, and the furious clicking of Gameslave buttons could be heard from behind the burgundy sheet that hid her room from the rest of the world.  
  
"I love you, despite the fact that you don't even care that your only brother is going out to face uncertain (but fairly likely) Doom of an unknown (but decidedly painful) variety." Dib added as he left.  
  
"Shut up."  
  
And so it was that Dib's day started fairly well.  
  
* * *  
  
Three hours later, Dib's day was anything but fairly well. Infiltrating Zim's headquarters, a big building that took up the entire town's former grounds, was never easy, and it had been just his luck to be scorched by one of the lawn gnome defense units near the entrance, immobilizing his left arm. He should have turned back then. But did he? Of course not. He clutched his arm to his chest and continued on.  
  
Dib's next mistake was tripping. Not only did he trip, but he fell against the walls, and as you well know, being walls in a highly advanced race's headquarters, these walls were filled with sensors that alerted the entire base of his location.  
  
No problem, right? Dib was a fast runner, and by now he knew his way around fairly well. He was confident as he raced away. So confident, in fact, that he threw away common sense and took the shortest route out. It was inevitably swarming with guards, effectively cutting off his escape.  
  
Being a left-handed person, Dib couldn't easily fire his handheld laser. Not only did he have horrible aim with his right hand, but by the time he reached his right arm across his body to get to the laser strapped on his belt, the guards would have turned him into Dib powder, or if their laser settings were high enough, nothing but a few random molecules floating in the air.  
  
So, instead of fighting, he stared at the guards for a moment, bewildered. This was a new situation. He'd never ended up at point blank before. Shot at, yes. He'd ran from masses of guards, all shooting the same lasers these guards held now. But that was the difference: He'd ran. This was the first time he had ever been faced with such a situation. He had no chance for escape. There were only two paths he could take: Death or Capture.  
  
Dib weighed both choices carefully. On one hand, hadn't he always stood for "Give me liberty, or give me death!"? Hadn't he vowed never to give in, to always resist? His death, while admittedly not the most incredibly fun thing he would experience, would be the thing any proud believer in freedom would do, right?  
  
Yet, shouldn't he, as the sole hope for Earth's freedom, try to keep that flame of hope alive? He should avoid death, not for the selfish reason that he didn't want to die, but because the resistance had to live on! The remaining population of Earth depended on him! He had to stay alive!  
  
Let's flashforward a bit to see what would have happened had Dib chosen to never surrender. He would have leapt for his laser, and the surprised guards would have been late shooting their lasers, only a few of them shooting as he dodged aside. He would have had an opportunity to run, ducking into several side-chambers to avoid being blasted. The chase would have led them all into the slave-dungeons and there, alas, Dib would be shot down, in front of the eyes of all the hopeless slaves, who had never before even dreamed of resisting. Seeing his death and honoring him as a martyr, one boy would rise above the others to lead a massive slave rebellion and eventually overthrow the Irken empire. This lucky boy would proceed to be leader of a new Earth order, one of complete peace, one that communicated peacefully with the other races of the universe, setting up brilliant trading systems and establishing an intergalactic currency that ended up bridging all peoples into universe-wide peace. For the first time, Dib would have the recognition as a hero, brilliant when others were oblivious and defiant where others were compliant. Now can you guess who this remarkable leader is? No? Well, I don't blame you, but don't worry! We'll be seeing more of him later, not as a world leader but as... You'll just have to wait and see, won't you? Now, moving right along...  
  
Dib stared at the guards, and finally spoke, causing them all to tense, expecting the mocking insults Dib had taken to yelling before bursting forth with some new super-weapon. Our poor hero didn't have any tricks up his sleeve this time, and instead, all he said was, "Oh. I guess I have to surrender then, don't I?" Dib lifted his hands into the air and allowed the puzzled Irkens to strip him of his weapons and hurried him forward in a new direction.  
  
I wonder if Gaz will miss me, Dib mused. I bet she will once she runs out of batteries for her Gameslave. That might take a while, though. I stocked up pretty well...  
  
He was brought to a room that was basked in blue-black shadow. Atop a tall throne, sat Zim, looking decidedly bored. His crimson eyes widened upon seeing his nemesis, and he climbed down from his throne. The guards shoved Dib down into a kneeling position and roughly bound his hands behind his back. When they had finished, Zim sent them away with a regal, sweeping gesture.  
  
Zim stepped directly in front of Dib. Even with his platform shoes, he only barely managed to meet the kneeling human's eyes. "I told you what would happen if I caught you again." he said, fingering his silver inlaid laser gun, as if Dib didn't remember his threat.  
  
"Two years is a long time not to get caught." Dib argued. "I think I did pretty well."  
  
"Not well enough, though." Zim disagreed, placing the laser beam to Dib's neck. The metal was cold, but that wasn't why Dib shivered.  
  
"Don't kill me. You don't really want to!" Dib pleaded, though it revolted him to have to beg like that.  
  
"Oh? And how do you know what I want?" Zim asked dangerously, leaning closer to Dib.  
  
"I don't want to die like this." Dib said, not answering Zim. There was a distinct whimper in his voice. He really didn't want to die like this! Bound, helpless, unable to fight it... He should have run from the guards, let them shoot him down. But to die like this, in cold blood... it was more than he could stand. "Don't kill me."  
  
Zim closed the small distance between their lips and kissed Dib on the lips. Dib responded instantly, opening his mouth to allow Zim's tongue access to his mouth. He froze however, when he realized that it was a goodbye kiss. He pushed Zim away harshly.  
  
"Are you that eager to die?" Zim snarled. The Irken squeezed the trigger, not tight enough to release the killing beam, and he hesitated. Dib remembered long ago predicting this hesitation, and he smiled to himself, glad his small prediction had come true, and he squeezed his eyes closed, prepared for death. Somehow, Zim's momentary hesitation had given him the peace he needed to die calmly. But then, that small hesitance began to grow longer, almost five minutes. Finally, the cold laser was pulled away from Dib. "I suppose if you're that eager to die, I shouldn't let you."  
  
Dib bit back a smile. That was Zim's way of saying he couldn't kill Dib. "Right. Does that mean you'll let me go?"  
  
"Of course not!" Zim said quickly. "I wouldn't, I can't. You... Well... That would be doing you a favor, and I don't do favors for stupid, meaningless humans."  
  
"Oh." Dib was thoroughly confused. If he wasn't going to be killed, and he wasn't going to be let go, what was going to happen to him? "What are you planning to do, then? Keep me as a pet?"  
  
"A pet." Zim repeated carefully. "Interesting. You have been free for far too long. I think it's time we see how you'd do as my personal slave!"  
  
"A slave!? Dib demanded, outraged. "I can't do that! I won't!"  
  
"You really haven't been keeping up with 'Irken Technology Today', now have you? This planet has been equipped with the obedience technology for four years now." Zim scoffed.  
  
"Obedience technology?" Dib asked suspiciously. He kept his hazel eyes trained on Zim as the alien rummaged through a set of cabinets cloaked from Dib's vision by heavy shadow. Presently, Zim returned, carrying something that seemed to catch and reflect the bits of light in the room perfectly. Zim held it up for Dib to see better, and Dib saw it clearly. A leather collar, studded with rhinestones. It was like something from one of those stores Gaz had fondly referred to as "Wannabe" stores before the invasion.  
  
Before Dib could flash a suitable snappy remark in Zim's face, the alien slipped the collar around Dib's neck, fastening it tightly. Dib immediately reached up to undo the clasp, but it stayed closed. Zim smirked at him, and Dib got the uncomfortable feeling that the collar did something more than look pretty. "What's it do?" Dib asked, careful not to let a shred of fear show in his voice.  
  
"You'll see." Zim said quietly. "You shouldn't ask questions. You belong to me now, and possessions don't ask questions."  
  
"I'm not yours." Dib snapped.  
  
Zim quirked an eyebrow. "You are, by Irken law. I am your new Master, and you're my slave. You have to do everything I say."  
  
"I'm my own person!" Dib countered. "You may think you're the king of the world, but we humans are equipped with a little thing we like to call free will, and I fully intend to use it."  
  
"So ignorant." Zim sighed theatrically to an invisible audience. He turned back to Dib condescendingly. "From now on, you have to follow my orders to the letter, as quickly and as efficient as possible. You don't have a choice. You don't have your pitiful human 'free will' anymore."  
  
Dib rolled his eyes. "You can't just tell me to abandon my free will!"  
  
Zim smirked, a very typical Zim smirk, traced with his familiar lacing of insanity. "Want to bet? Lay down."  
  
"I don't have to." Dib replied flippantly, but even as he said this, a sharp electrical pain shock ran up his spine, growing more intense as he continued to refused to obey. It didn't stop until he collapsed into a heap on the floor.  
  
"Was that so bad?" Zim asked mockingly in a sickeningly sweet tone. "Just do what I say and you won't good hurt."  
  
Typically, Dib would make some sarcastic comment about what a cliché line that was. Now, however, he just mumbled, "Stupid Zim." and glared at the said alien.  
  
"Sit up." Zim said, hardly able to control the note of glee that raised in his voice.  
  
Dib struggled again and another bolt of pain shot through him before he reluctantly sat up. "I hate you." the ebony-haired boy whispered. He didn't mean it. He never did. But this was as close as he had ever come to meaning it.  
  
"Now repeat after me:" Zim ordered, the traces of an insane giggle forcing its way through to the surface. He took a sort of sadistic pleasure at seeing the look on Dib's face. It was a beautiful blend of fear and helplessness, combined with fury and humiliation. Quite the interesting picture, Zim decided, and stored the image in his mind for future viewing pleasure.  
  
"Master Zim is great and powerful -- much better than a lowly human stinkbeast like myself. I live to serve him and my only goal in life is to please him." Dib repeated everything word for word from Zim's mouth before contorting his face into a scowl and adding, "That's not true and it never will be."  
  
"Oh, really?" Zim asked, and again, Dib got the uncomfortable feeling that there was something he didn't know, and worse, this time Dib understood he would be helpless to whatever attack Zim had in mind. He smirked. "I'll have Gir show you to your room -- you remember Gir, don't you? He's my faithful Sir robot, the one you nearly completely brought offline three years ago with your little attack on my base."  
  
"Get on with it." Dib growled. "What are you planning? So what if I have to go to bed? You have something more hateful in mind than just sending me to my room, I know you better than that."  
  
Zim smirked. "You're sharp." he said, shrugging. "Yes, I do have a better suiting punishment for you, stupid human."  
  
"First you call me sharp, then you call me stupid. Make up your mind!" Dib complained.  
  
Zim ignored him. "From the now until I come to collect you tomorrow morning, you will think of nothing but my positive qualities. Understand?" Zim looked quite pleased with his brilliance, though he was somewhat less amused when, after a few minutes, Dib couldn't seem to free himself from the wracking pain. Eventually, Zim got tired of Dib's screaming and floor- writhing, and offered advice. "Oh, really, human! You aren't that dumb, are you? Stop being stubborn! Think of something you like about me!"  
  
"Y-your eyes." Dib stammered after a moment. His body relaxed. "I like your eyes. They're pretty." Dib was silent a moment, thinking. "You're a good kisser, too." he added.  
  
Pleased with this turn of events, Zim called Gir in to take Dib to his room. Immediately, the "advanced" Sir ran in and hugged Dib. "Ooh! Hiya! I know you! You're the guy! The guy... With the hair! Yeah!"  
  
"Yeah." Dib agreed distantly. "You're Gir. I remember you. Cute and funny. I liked you. You're Zim's."  
  
"Yup!" Gir agreed. "Hey, have you ever seen an aardvark?"  
  
"I... I don't know." Dib said, confused, blinking as he snapped back to reality, wincing in pain as he did so, though he quickly rendered that with a glance at Zim's eyes. "What do they look like, cool robot of pretty- eyed Zim." Dib immediately felt silly after saying that, but it was necessary to keep focused on Zim. Luckily, Gir forgot all about the aardvarks and got onto a tangent about "Master's prettiful eyes".  
  
This was a conversation Dib could participate fully in, so he did, maybe a little more enthusiastic then was absolutely necessary. "He does have pretty eyes!" Dib agreed. "Have you ever seen such a pretty crimson like that? I haven't, and I've looked. It compliments his skin tone nicely, too, but I still like his eyes better. I've always favored red over green, so I'm biased."  
  
Zim watched, not sure whether he should be shocked or amused, so he settled for puzzled. Dib certainly was an enigma...  
  
  
  
To Be Continued…. 


	2. The Trouble With Having A Super-Screamin...

Warnings: Still slash. Still slavery. Still some interesting promises of non-ZADR slash.  
  
Of A Rhinestone Slavery in a Glass Palace  
  
  
  
It took Gaz exactly three months, two weeks, and six days before she ran out of batteries. At that exact time, a scream was emitted at such a frequency that all the glass within a five-mile radius was shattered.  
  
"Dib." Gaz growled. "Where are my batteries?" Since he wasn't answering, she assumed he was sleeping in, as usual. She knocked on the lid of his bed and was surprised when he hand came away with a layer of dirt and dust, showing that Dib hadn't slept there for quite some time.  
  
"Well," Gaz said, quickly regaining her composure. "This is a new development. He probably got captured and expects me to save him on my way to get batteries. As long as he doesn't expect me to rescue him first..." This said, Gaz set out on her quest to find the batteries... Oh, and rescue Dib, too, if she had the time.  
  
* * *  
  
"Dib!" Zim called out irritably.  
  
"Yes, Master?" Dib asked, appearing at Zim's side instantly.  
  
"Did you have some sort of bomb rigged?" Zim demanded. "Look at this: All the glass in these sectors is completely shattered!"  
  
"Oh." Dib looked nervous as he tried to recall. "It would have had to be some sort of sound bomb, set to a certain frequency, pitch, and volume." he said, recognizing it. "But I never used those. They aren't effective enough to do any damage beyond glass..."  
  
"Don't lie. If it wasn't you, then who could have set it?" Zim demanded.  
  
Dib met his gaze unwaveringly to show the collar wasn't shocking him. "I didn't set that bomb, Master." Zim could never be sure, though, whether Dib was in pain. At first, it had literally been painfully obvious when Dib disobeyed, but over time, Dib learned to control his outer reactions.  
  
Dib had definitely been stubborn when Zim had first collared him, but after a while, he had grown into a sort of habitual obedience in his attempt to avoid pain. Zim knew that Dib would turn on him the first moment he could. Zim didn't plan on that anytime soon, though.  
  
At the moment, Dib had a thoughtful look sprawled across his countenance. His mop of black hair had grown a bit more insane, and a thick lock obscured one of his brown eyes. Zim quickly brushed that lock aside. He didn't like being unable to see Dib's eyes; he could never be sure what was going on behind them if he couldn't see them.  
  
"I think I know what it was." Dib said slowly.  
  
"Tell me, then! Don't deny Zim any of your worthless information." Zim demanded.  
  
Dib hesitated, and Zim's carefully trained eyes saw a flash of pain Dib's eyes. Then, Dib gave his answer. "It's my sister, I'll bet. See, Gaz probably ran out of batteries. Without batteries, her Gameslave shuts down, and she loses all her saved games. She freaks. All the shattered glass would have been a result of her screaming."  
  
Zim looked oddly thoughtful. "Her voice has some sort of glass- shattering power? That would be a useful weapon against the stupidly defiant people of Swairy who just happen to be made out of glass. With your monkey-sister as our weapon, they shall be too broken-y and stuff to resist the mighty Irken Empire!"  
  
Alarm crossed Dib's face. "You can't take my sister! Just use a sound bomb! They do the same thing!"  
  
"Sound bombs are big and heavy, and you can't use them more than once." Zim said, sneering at Dib's ignorance of the Irken technology (which wasn't actually Irken technology because they swiped it from some guy named Skwitshew off the planet Blorch). "Your monkey-sister, however, is compact and can be used many times."  
  
"Zim!" Dib resorted to begging, which, though undignified, almost always got him what he wanted. Unfortunately, in his begging attempt, he'd forgotten one of the first orders he'd gotten -- call Zim "Master". A relatively large bolt of pain flew through him, making him visibly shudder.  
  
"I don't take orders from slaves." Zim said haughtily, "You've forgotten your place. Maybe you should go to your room for a while." Dib winced, knowing what always came next. "And while you're there, think about all my positive traits. There's so many, I'm sure that even with all the times I've made you done this, you still haven't covered them all. You'll have plenty of time to think of new ones, and review all the old ones too. You can stop tomorrow morning, and not a second sooner."  
  
Dib scowled and wished Zim would define "morning" better, but only said aloud "Yes, Master." He hated it when Zim controlled his thoughts. He'd always assured himself that if he'd ever become a slave, he'd still have his mind and soul. But Zim just had to prove him wrong, didn't he? Oops, that was a negative thought, as the collar so kindly reminded him. Zim's eyes were pretty...  
  
* * *  
  
Gaz stalked in front of the Irken fortress. There were no guards on duty -- reasonable, considering their one enemy was currently captured. Morons. Gaz carried her batteries in one hand, laser in the other. "And Dib thought this was hard?" the violet haired girl chuckled as she began to wander aimlessly through the maze of corridors inside. Eventually, she stopped in front of a tall door with the words "Stupid Stinkbeast Slave Chambers" written in oddly elaborate golden English letters.  
  
"Well, that's obviously my brother's room. Zim wouldn't bother to insult anyone else in a human language." Gaz entered without knocking. She hadn't knocked on his old bedroom door -- even if that had been who knows how many years ago when there had been a door to knock on. Why should this be any different?  
  
"Go away, pretty-eyed Zim." Dib mumbled into his pillow.  
  
He lay face down on a huge, fluffy bed. Gaz wondered if he'd even want to go back to his old coffin bed. His new bed was so large and elegant, like the rest of his room that Gaz held off delivering his punchline for a moment to look around. Just a moment, mind you, not long. "So now it's 'pretty-eyed Zim'? Do I even want to know what you mean by that?"  
  
Dib bolted upright. "Gaz!" he yelped. "What are you doing here?" his eyes flashed briefly in pain has his Zim-oriented thoughts slipped through his practiced control before he regained his grasp on them.  
  
"I'm here to save you, idiot." Gaz informed him, coolly." Though why you didn't just escape is beyond me. All the doors are open."  
  
"This collar I'm wearing. It sends this shock of pain through me whenever I disobey Zim --" A wince for forgetting to call him Master. Oh well, it was better than saying pretty-eyed Zim again. "--so I couldn't leave."  
  
"Oh yeah, I'd heard about those." Gaz agreed, though how she'd heard of them was beyond Dib, considering she was perpetually stuck to the Gameslave of hers and even Dib hadn't heard of them until he'd been enslaved himself. "I'll undo it for you." the younger girl freed Dib with a quick sweep of her laser, and the leather contraption fell to the ground lightly Dib stared at it. While on paper, three and a half months doesn't sound incredibly long, to Dib, it had seemed like an eternity of slavery. And now he was free? He couldn't believe it. "I hate Zim. He's a stupid alien who can't do anything right." he said experimentally.  
  
"Duh." Gaz retorted. "Come on. Let's go. I saw this door that said something about a bomb supply. We can blow that up and the whole place will go down."  
  
"Right! This is great!" Dib exclaimed. His voice didn't reach his face, and he didn't move to leave.  
  
"What's wrong with you? Get going." Gaz demanded.  
  
Dib still didn't move. His face could have been in the dictionary under hesitance. "Hey, Gaz? Do you think you'd be okay without me?"  
  
Gaz rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot. You can't just blow them up and leave. You have to play the hero and pick a fight with Zim first. My mistake. Just don't expect me to wait up, and don't expect me to carry on your stupid, failed revolution, and don't expect me to rescue you again -- I've already wasted enough time on you."  
  
That would have hurt a lot, if Dib weren't used to that sort of remark. "Whatever, see you Gaz."  
  
Gaz left the base, reattached her Gameslave, and grumbled about the whole ordeal being nothing more than a waste of time, and she shouldn't have even bothered. As she walked away, she considered giving the base one last sentimental glance, but decided against it. Too cliché. However, if one looked closely at Gaz's squinted eyes, they would see the faint, crystalline outline of tears. Of course, if anyone got that close, they wouldn't live to tell about it.  
  
Meanwhile, Dib stood in the middle of his room, still thinking out loud. "I can still follow her. I could blow this whole place up and follow her." He was silent for a moment. "But I won't. It's not just that I want to be the hero... Not that at all, really. I mean, I do want to be the hero... But Gaz's plan won't work. She thinks life is a video game, and that's just what her plan is: something straight from a video game. The slaves are all at the base too, and they'd be killed just as much as the Irkens. Besides..." Dib hesitated before admitting this to himself, "I don't think I could give this up."  
  
"Your thoughts are confusing, stinkbeast. Give what up?" Zim asked from the open doorway.  
  
"That's the last time I talk out loud to myself!" Dib scolded himself aloud as he dove onto his bed and ducked under the covers, in some desperate, not-so-ingenious idea to hide the fact that he no longer had a collar. Luckily, he had enough sense to realize that the plan was too stupid to actually work.  
  
Unfortunately, he didn't have enough time to say so before Zim gladly pointed it out for him. "Stupid stinkbeast. I see your collar on the floor. I saw your human spawn-sister come to talk to you, and I saw your ridiculous monologue-thing, too."  
  
"You're going to put another collar on me." Dib predicted gloomily.  
  
"That sounds fun." Zim admitted, sounding amused. "But, no. I was actually going to say that I trust you. Almost. Enough to let you go without that ugly collar-thing, anyways. But if you really want it back..."  
  
"No!" Dib said quickly. "No. I don't want it back."  
  
Zim looked thoughtful for a moment before adding, "I think a reward is in order."  
  
"A reward?" Dib asked suspiciously. "I'm not a pet, I don't need a reward."  
  
"Can't your giant head grasp the concept of a reward? It's a good thing!" Zim protested, angry that his generous offer had been refused.  
  
"What kind of reward will it be?" Dib asked warily, narrowing his eyes.  
  
"It will more than likely be more fun for me than you, but I hope you'll find some enjoyment." Zim said cryptically.  
  
"Oh my god, you're going to rape me!"  
  
Zim stared. Then he laughed. He couldn't stop laughing. "Rape you?" he choked. "You do realize that the Irken reproduction system and the human reproduction system makes that completely impossible, don't you? Nevermind, you're too stupid to know that..."  
  
"Too ignorant, not too stupid. There's a difference, you know." Dib said monotonously, upset at being proven to be an idiot so many times in one day.  
  
"Well you're both stupid and ignorant, then." Zim replied. "But back to my cleverly planned reward --"  
  
"Wait," Dib said, confused. "I thought you were rewarding me for proving myself trustworthy and not blowing up your base. How could it be a cleverly planned plan-thing if you've only had about two minutes to think it up?"  
  
"Because I'm brilliant!" Zim yelled, as if he needed no other reason. "Now, Dib-beast, have you ever wondered what happened to all the other filthy Skool stinkworms?"  
  
"Dead?" Dib guessed morbidly, suddenly depressed at the mention of his former friends. Wait, hold on. Friend was a bit of a strong word for a bunch of people who disbelieved his every word and hated and despised him... Okay, Acquaintances. Former acquaintances.  
  
"Not all of them." Zim said, smiling so you could see his sharp teeth.  
  
Dib felt suddenly sick to his stomach and he decided that he wouldn't like Zim's reward. "What is it?"  
  
"You remember that Smacky wormchild who tortured you so much?" Zim pressed.  
  
Dib wondered how he couldn't remember Torque. Torque and his jock friends had bullied Dib constantly with games like "Dib-ball", "Pass the Freak", and "Pin the Tail on the Alien-Obsessed Weirdo". The thing about Torque was that somehow, he always knew which buttons to push, how to make Dib hurt both mentally and physically, and the bigger boy always used it to his advantage.  
  
"What? Dibby's afraid of going to middle skool? Aww… I bet he's too scared to change in the gym lockers, huh? Ain't nobody seen him naked before." Torque, one year ahead of Dib and already at the middle school, sneered. "Y'know, they shove sevvies into their lockers and lock them in. You'd better give me your combo so I can get you out after I shove you in!" This incredibly lame joke drove everyone watching into hysterical laughter. One kid, in fact, began choking and was quickly rushed away by an ambulance.  
  
"Maybe you should go check on your friend?" Dib asked tentatively.  
  
"Oh, so now you're saying that I'm loser enough to be friends with that gagging wimp?" Torque demanded.  
  
"No, I-"  
  
"So I'm not good enough to be his friend, then?  
  
"That's not what I meant!"  
  
"Freak, you're really asking for it, you know that?"  
  
"Torque, please!"  
  
Torque swung his fist over and over, hitting Dib in the stomach and face while the scythe-haired boy stood and took it. Finally, Dib collapsed, bruised beyond belief. Torque kicked him absently and walked away, muttering, "Loser."  
  
Dib watched him go, before picking himself up. "Dumb jock. I'm not even worried about middle skool…"  
  
All Dib said out loud was "Yes."  
  
"He's one of my slaves." Zim said.  
  
"Oh." Dib replied. What would this mean? Did Zim expect Dib to want to fight Torque, like some common gladiator? Dib doubted he'd be able to win if Torque weren't collared, and there was no way he'd want to fight Torque if the bigger boy were collared. That just wouldn't be fair. "So?"  
  
Zim just gave Dib a "wait-you'll-see" look, paired with an "I-know- you're-going-to-love-this" grin, and walked out. Dib hesitated, wondering if he was really supposed to follow. Or maybe he should just run away. Knowing Zim, he'd probably lied, and there wasn't really a reward at all; it was just a scheme to get a collar back on him. Dib toyed with these thoughts before deciding to stay where he was.  
  
A minute or so later, Zim returned, an older Torque in tow. He was collared. His eyes widened in fear when he saw Dib. That surprised Dib even more than Torque's lean, malnutritioned body and the depressed, tallow face. "Master, don't." Torque pleaded.  
  
"What's going on?" Dib demanded, translating his anxiety into anger.  
  
"Torque, tell Dib how you feel." Zim ordered with a look of barely suppressed glee.  
  
Torque's eyes darted from Zim to Dib, looking panicked. "I feel... with nerve endings."  
  
Dib, as a former captive of the collar, had to admire Torque for finding a loophole in Zim's order. Dib had played that game often enough to know that it was difficult. Dib had never attributed "brains" to Torque's list of positive qualities, but for even attempting to match wits with Zim, he should be commended.  
  
Zim, unlike Dib, was not in the least amused. "Stupid meatworm." Zim grumbled, and he hissed a furious command into Torque's ear, too soft for Dib to catch.  
  
Torque's eyes widened further as he seemed to search for a new loophole. From Zim's face and Torque's panic, it seemed that there were none to be found. "I like you, Dib." Torque said finally.  
  
Dib stared. That was all? All the anticipation, the struggle Torque had put up, the boasting Zim had done about the "ingenious" plan... And all just to let Dib know that Torque liked him? Well, of course Torque liked him! Dib allowed himself a moment to bask in egotistical thoughts. Torque may have hated him before, but once he realized that Dib was right about Zim, and that Dib was now fighting for his rights, Torque's hatred must have diminished at least a little -- enough for the jock to say that he liked Dib.  
  
Zim wore the smile that always told Dib that there was more to this than he thought. The shorter alien then issued a single word command. It was a command that Dib dreaded to hear, even when it wasn't directed towards him. A command that had made Dib betray everything he'd stood for, allowing no room for loopholes of any sort: "Elaborate."  
  
"When I first met you, I just thought you were another stupid weird nerd and stuff--" Dib bit his tongue, not wanting to point out that 'stupid nerd' was really a paradox, "so I picked on you. But at the same time, even when I was pounding your face in... I guess... I mean... I sorta had a crush on you." Dib stared again. Oh. That sort of liked? Well, that certainly made things more interesting.  
  
"You've stopped making sense." Zim pointed out. "When did you realize you liked the Dib-beast? And why?"  
  
"Who, what, where, when, why." Torque mumbled sarcastically before continuing. "I started liking Dib back, about the time the time you came into the picture, Master. I mean, all Dib talked about before that was just random nonsense about Bigfoot and stuff. That was just stupid, and I don't think even he believed it." Torque made eye contact with Dib at that point, a flickering smile tracing itself over Torque's face. Dib smiled back, in agreement with that statement. Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster... He'd proven to himself slowly that they were all frauds. There was even a point where he'd doubted Zim...  
  
"But with Zim it was different, wasn't it, Dib?" Torque wasn't talking to Zim anymore, now his words were directly aimed at Dib. "Completely different. You got obsessed, you knew you were right, nothing could sway your belief that Zim was an alien." Torque's face turned regretful for a moment. "I almost believed you. I think... about the time of Pustullio, I really started to almost believe you."  
  
"Pustullio." Dib chuckled in remembrance. "If that wasn't a lame plan, I don't know what is."  
  
"It worked." Zim pointed out smugly, deciding not to point out most of the affair had merely been a Gir-induced accident. "And you had to stay after class for weeks cleaning up."  
  
"Talk about gross..." Dib made a face. "Ms. Bitters could have at least let me use the bigger sponge. Did you see that tiny thing she made me use?"  
  
"Moving on. Continue your story, Smacky." Zim ordered, getting rapidly bored with the friendly conversation.  
  
"Yeah. So I started to believe maybe you were right, and then I started noticing other things about you. You're pretty, Dib. Beautiful even."  
  
Dib blushed. "I'm not..."  
  
Torque just shook his head. "You're crazy if you can't see it. Your hair is awesome, seriously. Like... like a raven-colored scythe." Now, if you've heard anything about Dib before, you'll know this was insanely cliché. Raven is one of the most common substitutes for black, and anyone would half a drop of poetry in their soul could compare Dib's hair to a scythe. But coming from Torque's mouth, that phrase sounded elegant. "And your eyes. Deep and hazel. I could drown in them. I mean, I never believed what they said about drowning being a peaceful way to die, but I never really believed it until I looked in your eyes." Score one for Torque! Dib looked as if he were about to melt. "Your skin's like flawless porcelain." Uh oh, another cliché... "Radioactive porcelain. I mean, it kind of glows sometimes cause it's so pale." Dib tried to decide whether that was a compliment or not, but he eventually decided that, yes, radioactive porcelain would be rather pretty...  
  
Dib began to blush fiercely. Wow! Torque really thought all those things about him? It was strange, but suddenly Dib's heart was pounding, suddenly Torque looked quite a bit more attractive then he had a while before, suddenly... Dib got a crush on Torque. It happened just like that. Struck him fast and hard... Er, maybe another word would be in order instead of hard, wouldn't you agree? Unfortunately, I can't think one. Deal with your perverted thoughts on your own time.  
  
It was quite a normal reaction, really -- his crush, I mean. After all, he'd gone through a good deal of his life without anyone to feel attracted to. Zim didn't count, because he denied he liked Dib at all, even while they shared one of their rare kisses. Other than Zim, the only human contact he'd had was with Gaz and liking Gaz like that? Ew! But here Torque was, saying all these pretty things... It was really only natural that Dib fall for Torque instantly.  
  
"I... thanks..." Dib said with uncharacteristic shyness, his eyes repeatedly darting from the floor to Torque's face and back.  
  
Zim felt a pool of growing dread. This wasn't what was supposed to happen! Dib wasn't supposed to be flattered! Didn't realize that he belonged to Zim? Every part of him, and that included all his admiration, all his respect, all his lo-- "Smacky-worm," Zim said contemptuously. "If you liked the Dib-human so much, why did you hurt him so much?"  
  
Torque flinched and didn't answer. A few minutes of silence held until Torque began to shake with pain, his face turning pale, sweat pouring down his forehead. "Torque," Dib said coaxingly. "The pain won't stop until you obey. I don't like seeing you in pain."  
  
"I don't like giving in." Torque grunted.  
  
Dib's heart swelled with admiration. Torque had really changed since the skooldays they'd known each other. Still, at this rate, Torque was going to keel over. "Tell me, please." Dib persisted.  
  
Torque nodded, almost sullenly as he complied. "I liked...I mean... Seeing you... And having you in my power, almost... I mean, it sounds stupid now, but when I was beating you up, it was like the only connection I could have with you, and it made me feel important, like I meant something to you, even if it wasn't a good thing."  
  
Dib took a moment to puzzle out the fragmented sentences. "So... It gave you a power rush, beating me up?" he concluded.  
  
Torque's pain-paled face flushed a bit as he looked slightly to the left. "Yeah."  
  
"Oh..." Dib looked at the ground, looking rather startled as he processed this. After all, if that wasn't an abusive relationship in the making, he didn't know what was. But still... "Oh. Wow." He tried a tentative smile in Torque's direction, but it went unnoticed by the taller boy, as his gaze was still rather fixed to a point some three feet to the left of Torque's head. "You know, all this time, I thought that Zim was the only one who cared at all. I guess I was wrong."  
  
Whatever heartfelt reply Torque would have given was cut off, as Zim yanked him roughly a step away from Dib, pulling on the collar. "It's time to go, Torque." Zim informed the boy coldly. "I should return you to your Irken Overseer."  
  
"Zim! Wait! Let me talk to him a while longer?" Dib asked, his eyes wide and pleading.  
  
"No." Zim replied, ordering Torque out of the room. Torque resisted until Dib gave him the resigned request that he leave. Then, Zim turned to Dib, eyes burning. "We need to talk."  
  
Author's Note: Well, wasn't that fun? LoL, Torque and Dib (TADR?) is actually my all time fave Invader Zim couple. There's really not enough of it. All I've seen so far are a few brief mentionings of it as an abusive relationship in some ZADRs. Just watch The Dark Harvest or The Rise of Zit Boy, and it should be obvious why they make such a cute couple. And now to reply to a few reviews!  
  
ArmAndLeg - Thanks! Glad you liked it. Hope you found Chapter Two just as entertaining.  
  
Silver Neko - Yup! Slave Dib is fun!  
  
MiracleChick - I obey the chick!!! Second part out, as promised. And I hope you saw who the mystery person was... Though, I'm not really sure if I want Torque to be the one who I mentioned in Chapter One. Somehow I can't see him creating intergalactic peace... Hm....  
  
Karyx - Thanks! I have fun writing in my own semi-narrator way. Just wish my English teacher would agree... *imitates her* When writing in the third person, you can't use "I" except in dialouge! And may you rot in detention because of you're misuse of the precious third-personiness!  
  
Celelorien - Zim's eyes are really pretty! Seriously, have you seen any IZ character with such pretty eyes? The human eyes are all... not pretty. And Tallest Red's eyes aren't as pretty a color, and Tallest Purple's eyes just... aren't as pretty... And *shrugs* I don't know. Zim has pretty eyes! 


	3. The Difficulties of Endings

Author's Note: Sorry about the confusing flashbacks last chapter... I'd forgotten that italics don't show up like that... Apologies!  
  
Warnings: Same as before. Still slash, still slavery, even more insane slash pairings, still lots of unrequited love, and still more appearances by cool Invader Zim characters who are finally given the appreciation they deserve! ... Probably more than they deserve, come to think of it. New warnings include death, betrayals, and ending-ness. Yup, this is the last chapter.  
  
Of A Rhinestone Slavery In A Glass Palace  
  
Zim gave Dib a long, cold, calculating look. When he finally spoke, it was softly, as if he couldn't trust his voice. "Are you staying?"  
  
Dib replied with a similar stare, even colder than Zim's. "That depends."  
  
"On what?"  
  
"Are you going to collar me again?"  
  
"Not right now." Then, as an afterthought, "But yes, I will."  
  
"Oh." Dib was thankful that Zim was being brutally honest with him. "Would I see Torque again?" He knew the answer would be no, but maybe if Zim saw it as a chance to get him to stay voluntarily...  
  
"No." Zim's answer was blunt, but oddly strained. "He's not... I mean... He does manual labor. I thought he'd amuse briefly, that's all."  
  
"Amuse me." Dib replied, uncomprehending. "I don't get it. Amuse me. Why would you think that? He says he loves me and then you get mad. What did you expect to happen? How could that amuse me without making you jealous."  
  
"I'm not jealous." Zim said defensively, not bothering to answer the rest until Dib pressed him. "I thought... Well, he tormented you. I thought seeing your enemy reduced to a groveling loveworm would amuse you."  
  
"But you never counted on me actually respecting him..." Dib finished.  
  
Zim glared. "This wasn't how it was supposed to happen. You can't respect him. You're supposed to hate him."  
  
Dib shook his head. "I can't. I never really did. Sure, I definitely didn't like him when he beat me up, but I never hated him. And now I can't help but respect him. Just... The way he acts. It's strong. Everything he does, it's defiance, resistance. The things I've always said I stood for, but that I gave up on." Dib smiled with a self-mocking upturning of his lips. "I gave up, he didn't. He pushed on. I always thought it'd be the other way around. Everyone else defeated, me being the Earth's very last hope. He proved me wrong. He's different."  
  
Zim frowned. "You weren't supposed to like him. You're supposed to like me!"  
  
"Zim, I can't help the way I feel! I like you, but I like him in a different way. With you... It's not respect so much as... as... I obsessed over you, hated you, spent so much of my life trying to stop you... I poured so much of me into you, and the strongest emotion is love, after all. It just happened."  
  
"So you don't respect me?" Zim demanded.  
  
"No! You didn't get it. I meant the way I feel about Torque is totally out of respect, but with you it's --"  
  
"You can't respect him!" Zim sounded like a petulant toddler. "You can't! All your respect belongs to me. I am your Master!"  
  
Dib was stunned. In the old days, before the invasion, this sort of outburst wouldn't have been weird. It would have been standard, even. But Zim didn't act like this anymore, not usually... "You can't just command me to respect you." Dib said calmly, as if talking to a small child. "Respect isn't something I can just give out. You have to earn it."  
  
Wrong thing to say. Zim backhanded him across the face. His petulant toddler stance had become that of one throwing a temper tantrum. "I am the ruler of your stupid, pitiful planet! I own all the factories, all the mindless animals including your own stinkbeast race. I own you, Dib. You're mine, not some other stupid stinkbeast's. You dare tell me I can't order your respect? That I must earn it? Stupid!"  
  
Zim snatched one of Dib's wrists and yanked him out of the room, pulling him through several twisting halls and down several flights of stairs. The air acquired a mildew flavoring, and it became colder. A dampness hung in the air, increasing the chill and making Dib shiver, clutching his free hand to his chest in an instinctive motion. "Where are we going?" Dib asked finally, his voice echoing oddly against the walls.  
  
"Down." came Zim's curt reply. Dib waited patiently for further explanation, and eventually Zim growled. "I'm showing you exactly how nice I've been to you, compared to how I've treated my other slaves. You're staying the night with them."  
  
Dib wondered how this was supposed to help him respect Zim. After all, wouldn't his respect diminish once he saw the horrible state of his fellow-slaves? Other questions rose to the surface of Dib's mind. He wouldn't be expected to actually work, would he? The thought petrified him for some reason, though he wasn't sure why. Doing manual labor, heavy manual labor, the kind that could get him killed... He wondered also if the slave's cells were like prison cells: gender-separated so that you had a bunch of horny men with beds, preying on the weaker boys to rape. A knot grew in his stomach, but Dib forced it down.  
  
Zim came to a stop at a heavy metal door. He paused for a moment, seeming to hesitate or rethink what he was doing. Then he slammed it open and nearly threw Dib into the dark room. Dib fell, scraping one knee. He looked up just in time to see the door close tightly behind him, leaving him in the darkness.  
  
He was alone. There was no movement or noise in the room. His eyes began to slowly adjust and he saw the state of the room. There were bunk beds, maybe eight of them. Some of them looked unmade, and only a very few looked decent. Dib suspected that those were the unused ones -- one of which he would be sleeping on, no doubt. The blankets were thin, and the pillows were flat. Not all the beds had either one, and none of them had both. There was a light bulb hanging from the ceiling, but it seemed to be smashed.  
  
Reluctant to take a seat on a bed, scared of the consequences of breaking some unknown rule about territory, Dib lingered by the door. It didn't take long, less than an hour, maybe, before the inhabitants of the room came back. There were perhaps twelve of them, roughly. Their faces ranged from various states of exhaustion and pain. Their hair was plastered to their heads and beads of water trickled down them, making their clothes stick tightly to their gaunt bodies. Dib wasn't sure if they'd taken showers or if it was sweat.  
  
"Hiya!" one boy exclaimed cheerfully, rushing to greet him. He had curly red hair and seemed to be about Dib's age.  
  
"Hi." Dib replied warily.  
  
"Oh, wow! You don't have a collar. Gosh, I haven't met anyone without a collar since we first got them. You must be really, really special! Will you be my special friend?"  
  
Dib gulped, afraid of this psychotic boy. He took a step backwards, running into the frame of a bed. "Knock it off, Keef, you're scaring the new kid." one of the other inmates growled from the top bunk.  
  
"Keef." Dib repeated. "I think... I almost remember you."  
  
Keef gasped audibly. "Dib! I know you! You were in my Skool! See? This is fate! We have to be special friends now. Please, please, please?"  
  
"Uh, sure." Dib replied. Anything to get away from this crazy kid.  
  
"Ooh, thank you, Dibby-poo!" Keef jumped to give Dib a big hug, ending in a sloppy kiss. Apparantly Keef had a different definition of "special friend" than Dib had expected...  
  
"Here, kid. Climb up. There's an empty bed. And Keef, what'd I tell you about the new kid?" came the same voice from before, a hand stretching to point to the bed next to him. Dib scrambled up into the bunk gratefully, mildly shocked at Keef's behavior. Dib peered through the dim light to get a better view of his savior.  
  
"Thanks." He looked closer. "...Bill?"  
  
"Do I know you?" the former paranormal investigator asked.  
  
"Yeah! I'm Dib, the kid you were paired up with on career day a few years before the invasion."  
  
"The kid with the alien." Bill remembered. "Yeah, I remember you. The only kid to pass all my tests."  
  
"Tests?" Dib repeated, confused. He didn't remember tests. He remembered a stupid cow, a wild chase after a stupid cereal cartoon, and trying to get proof about Zim's molt. He didn't remember any tests.  
  
"The tests to see if you had the stuff to be a paranormal investigator. You know. The false reports. The fake crop circle." Bill supplied.  
  
"Count Coacoafang?" Dib added helpfully.  
  
"Ah, now there was your entire problem. The reason I decided not to train you. You, despite believing one of your classmates to be an alien and suffering from your peers' disbelief and cruelty, turned right around and gave the same doubt to The Fang!"  
  
"He was off a cereal box!" Dib protested.  
  
"He was the leader of a blood-sucking cult, posing as a cereal character to lure small children into joining him as easy sacrifices." Bill corrected.  
  
Dib suddenly felt very, very silly. "And I didn't believe you. Didn't even stop and ask you for clarification or anything!"  
  
"I would have taken you on as an apprentice if you had." Bill replied wistfully.  
  
Ah, just another way he had failed the human race, Dib realized. If he'd just opened his mind a little, he could have joined Bill against The Fang, then they could have joined forces to stop Zim. Another "if" that would have saved the human race. Another "if" that condemned him to failure. Dib bit his lip until he tasted coppery blood lace itself across his mouth.  
  
"You'd better hit the sack if you want to be able to get through work tomorrow." Bill advised.  
  
"Work?" Dib repeated the word nervously. Surely Zim was going to take him back before he had to work, right? He couldn't do work! Not slave work. He couldn't. He just couldn't! They couldn't make him! He didn't have a collar, and even if he was recollared, he'd never obey anyone -- anyone except Zim, and maybe not even that anymore. Defiant thoughts echoed through Dib's mind as he fell asleep.  
  
"Cute kid." Bill murmured with a paternal smile.  
  
"He's more than cute, he's dreamy!" Keef argued from the bunk below Dib's.  
  
"He's also dreaming and if you wake him, I'll hurt you. Badly." Bill growled threateningly.  
  
Silence reigned through the cell after that.  
  
* * *  
  
The next morning Dib was gently shaken awake. "Time to get up." Bill told him. "The guards want to see you. I have a feeling it has something to do with you not having a collar."  
  
Dib's eyes flashed open, going wide and he sat up quickly. "They can't! Please don't let them!"  
  
Bill gave an apologetic shrug. "I can't. Orders. Maybe you have some sort of super pain tolerance, but I try to avoid pain. Okay?"  
  
"I don't blame you." Dib agreed, calming himself down visibly. "Okay. I'll come. You won't have to force me or anything like that." Bill was thankful for that. He may have gotten stronger from the manual labor, but he'd been on half-rations for years. Dib, on the other hand, looked a lot tougher than him, not necessarily heavily muscled, but lithe and fast. Bill doubted he could have made Dib follow if Dib didn't want to.  
  
Dib pulled himself down from his top bunk, rubbing his neck, gently working a cramp from his. He paused to give the hard mattress a frown before following Bill out of the cell. Bill presented him to the Irken guards with a sarcastic flourish, an act of defiance put up for Dib. It was strange that this small, ignored taunt to the guards would have such an effect in Bill's heart, but... Something stirred. Hope? Bill had thought he'd lost all hope years ago. It was a welcome relief from despair. He left smiling inwardly.  
  
Dib, unknowing of the huge change in Bill, scowled at the guards who roughly shoved him down the hall into a brightly lit room, filled with artificial yellow light. He was shoved on a cold metal table and strapped down. An autopsy table... Dib completely panicked, writhing hysterically, trying to break free. He remembered before the invasion, all his half- hearted attempts to get Zim on the autopsy table. Oh gods, what was Zim going to do? Because of course it was Zim, the only one in the world who knew how afraid he really was of autopsy tables. Of being strapped on them, left in a bright room, just waiting to be cut up by coldly glinting knives. Having pins hold back his skin as strangers stared at his still beating arms, probed his gasping lungs... "Get me off, please." he whimpered over and over.  
  
Zim swaggered in, but he stopped, horrorstruck. "No... I told them not to do this!" he sounded completely sincere, and Dib realized that this was probably some sort of standard procedure. Zim ran over to Dib and hurriedly unstrapped him. "I'm sorry." he said seriously. "I didn't know they were going to strap you up there. I told them just to leave you in here, not to..." he trailed off, trying to regain his own composure and giving Dib a few moments to regain his.  
  
"Should we just forget that happened?" Dib suggested, feeling embarrassed.  
  
Zim nodded. They were both good at pretending. "You stand there, I'm going to go out and come back in. This never happened."  
  
Dib smiled slightly. It was good to have an enemy who understood him so well, and who could relate with him on levels like this. "Right."  
  
Zim walked out. It was nearly five minutes before he came back in. Dib was sitting upright on the table, gazing around, studying everything in sight. "Did I earn your respect, human?" Zim demanded, looking as if he really had forgotten what had just happened. Maybe he had.  
  
"Only my disgust." Dib answered truthfully. "You shouldn't make your slaves live in conditions like that! At least give them all proper blankets! It's cold."  
  
Zim stared at Dib for a long time. "I can't earn your respect, can I?" he asked finally. "Why?"  
  
"You've always tried to demand it, but it just doesn't work that way. I wouldn't give my heart to someone without compassion, without kindness, without..." Dib trailed off, seeing Zim staring at him.  
  
"I never said anything about your heart, human. The heart is for love. I was asking for your respect." Zim said quietly, and Dib knew he'd made a fatal flaw. That was the game they played, loving each other by pretending to hate each other. Kissing every time they insulted one another, while a real kiss was like a punch in the gut... But he'd slipped up. That changed everything. "I suppose you'd give your heart to Torque, though?" Zim's voice was devoid of insults, no superiority, no alienity to it. It was a normal voice, which surprised Dib.  
  
"I think... I think I would." Dib's voice was hesitant, unsure. He knew he liked Torque, knew he respected Torque. Love, though? And that was what Zim was asking him, wasn't it?  
  
"I see." Zim looked thoughtful, as if he were considering something outrageous. "If I gave you a chance for freedom.... And a chance to save your Torque lovebeast," A teasing note, not insulting, bringing a smile to both boy's lips, "as well as all the other slaves here, would you take it?"  
  
"What's the price?"  
  
Zim stared Dib straight in the eyes, letting him know how sincere he really was. "I gave you half of that offer two years ago, and the price was that you challenge me. I suppose it's only fair I double the price. Instead of challenging me, halfway defeating me everytime... I want you to defeat me."  
  
"That's impossible! Zim, it's hopeless. I can't win."  
  
"I'm not asking you to try. I'm not asking you to come up with some clever plan... I'm asking you to follow my plan because my plan will work, without even a possibility of failure." It dawned on Dib what Zim was really asking. "You want me to win? You want the Irkens' hold on Earth to die?" he paused. "What do I do?"  
  
Zim sucked in a deep breath. "You're going to hold me hostage with my own laser gun. You'll force me to free the slaves. Once they're all free, you'll lead them out, still holding me hostage. On your way out, you'll bomb this entire base. Then you'll kill me. Do all that and you'll win."  
  
"I wouldn't have to kill you..."  
  
"Yes you would." Zim gave Dib a cold look. "You will kill me. I'll kill you if you don't."  
  
The plan seemed to have a lot of flaws to Dib. "It's not going to work." Dib said bluntly. "The other soldiers in the base aren't just going to stand around. Even having you as my hostage, they're not going to just let me get away with this."  
  
Zim smiled slightly. "Once you agree, I'll lock them in rooms away from the halls, keep them out of the way. You're only going to keep me hostage for the cameras. Once everyone's locked up, I'll flip the emergency switch, broadcasting everything that happens to my leaders, the Tallest. I'll die a hero."  
  
Dib smiled in return. "You've got a plan, then." He leaned in and kissed Zim lightly on the lips. "I can respect you now."  
  
"I know." Zim didn't have to tell Dib that was the entire reason he was doing this. Funny, really. He ruled the world and he was giving it all away, betraying his people, just for one puny boy's respect and a hero's death. He didn't mind. It was worth it completely. "Dib, I love you."  
  
Dib hugged Zim tightly. "I love you, too. Not in the way you want me to, but I do love you. You're my best friend, weird as it sounds. You've always been my best friend. My obsession. My enemy. My everything. Zim, you don't have to die..."  
  
Zim pried himself from Dib's arms. "Yes I do, Dib. I can't live here, watching you and Torque really fall in love, I can't live among the humans I've treated like slaves for all these years, I can't betray my people worse than I already am. I have to die and you have to kill me." "I don't understand why you're doing this in the first place." Dib admitted.  
  
Zim smiled halfway. "Remember all those years ago, when you said that only one of us could have our dreamworld become a reality? What was it you said? That you couldn't be a hero while I took over your world? Well I've had my turn at living out my fantasies, and I'm sick of it. I'm sick of everyone pretending to respect me. I'm sick of the Tallest pretending they like me. I'm sick of all the pretending! Dib, I just want it to end. I want you to have your turn. You'll have a better time being the hero than I have.  
  
Zim handed Dib his silver laser gun before he turned to a computer in the far corner of the room. After nearly ten minutes, he nodded. "It's done. Everyone is locked away. I'm going to flip the switch now, so start acting." Zim pressed a red button and felt Dib press the cool metal of the gun to his neck.  
  
"Free all the slaves in the building." Dib ordered the alien curtly, understanding exactly how Zim wanted him to act.  
  
Zim quietly clicked a few buttons. "Done."  
  
Dib yanked him out of the room, sensing the hidden camera following him. He pulled Zim towards the cells, where slaves were emerging, looking confused. "Everyone, get out of here, and yes, that is an order! Leave the building and meet..." Dib thought for a moment. "Meet all together a mile east from this base. I'll get rid of all your collars then, so stay put, okay?" He scanned the crowd for a while, searching frantically for one person. "Torque!" he finally yelled, finding him. "Lead them there, okay? And wait for me."  
  
Torque nodded. "Okay, everyone! Follow me!" he led everyone towards the stairwell that would lead them to freedom . Dib pulled Zim up the stairs after them, but turned in another direction, towards the explosives storage Gaz had told him about. When he got there, he timed one of the bombs to go off in ten minutes. Then he looked into Zim's eyes, a sadness coming over him. "I don't need you anymore." he said, realizing that it was true, in a way that was more than just for the cameras. He didn't need Zim. He was entering an entirely new stage of his life. His childhood had been dominated by the fantasies of something like Zim. His teens had been dominated by Zim. But now... Zim was going to die, and he would be an adult.  
  
"Then kill me." Zim's voice pierced through Dib's thoughts. On impulse, Dib grabbed Zim and pulled him close, kissing him fiercely. Kissing his childhood goodbye. Kissing his teenage years goodbye. Kissing adulthood hello... He shot the laser through the side of Zim's head, not breaking the kiss until Zim slumped, limp in grasp. Dead.  
  
Dib walked out without looking back.  
  
I'd love to lavish you with details about how everything worked out just fine for the newly freed slaves, but it was all so sugary sweet and slow that I'm sure you'd be bored to death, so you'll have to make do with a light outline of the events that followed. Dib and Torque eventually really did fall in love. They weren't the first ones to be married under the new human freedom, but they definitely held one of the most celebrated weddings. Dib and Torque worked together to build a new society, one that was fair and open-minded, and, in their opinion as well as most everyone elses', a lot better than the old human society. They basically got everything they wished for, even an alliance with the Irkens, who instantly became their best friends once they discovered that the humans provided both free nachos and free curly fries for any royal ambassadors, as well as killer laser light shows accentuated by awesome smoke machines. Needless to say, Earth was never invaded again, what with The Massive almost constantly stationed within the solar system and the Tallest spending most of their time "ambassadorizing" on Earth. And everyone lived happily ever after.  
  
  
  
Author's Note: *stares* Wow. Where'd that ending come from? This thing has gone through three endings so far. In the original outline for the story, it ended with Dib becoming a slave and, eventually accepting it. I added in the margins the possibility of him accepting it because he saw Torque had accepted it and Torque was always so strong... I didn't actually expect to write that part in, though! But I did in my rough draft, and Torque didn't write himself as the compliant slave he was supposed to be. So it expanded and in my notebook-version, Zim lets Dib and Torque go for the "challenge". Again. I read that and decided it was entirely stupid and re-wrote it for the typed-version. It was supposed to cut off when Dib killed Zim with some obscure, made-no-sense comment about birthdays, but I couldn't resist. Arina, my beta told me to make a mini-epilouge, and ta da! You have here in your... uh, computer... the final copy! Like it? Leave a review! I'd appretiate it!  
  
Replies to Reviews: Evil-Chicken-Wrath: LoL, thanks! Jealous Zim is just too much fun too write.  
  
ArmAndLeg: Cool! And here I thought I was one of the only TADR fans out there. Your presence has given me the inspiration to write another TADR! Well, actually I already started it, but we'll just say that you gave me the inspiration to actually transfer it from my notebook to the computer, right?  
  
Celelorien: Cool! Another TADR fan! TADR fans unite! LoL And I guess the this chapter answered your question about why Zim would think bringing in Torque would be a reward. I cut the chapter off at a different point than I'd originally intended. Sorry about that!  
  
Silver Neko: Thanks tons!  
  
The Gigantic Evil Bunny of DOOOOOM!!!: Sorry... LoL, no more ZADR, but I hope you liked the TADR? Please don't kill me! 


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